I have read every Cotton Malone book from Steve Berry and this is the first I had to quit reading after almost halfway through. Just too much details with Italian history and families,etc. I had to keep going back,and forth. I stopped reading it at about 45% complete. Disappointing!

Painfully boring.

I have read all of Steve Berry’s books. Love how he takes history and builds a story around it. The Medici Return is another great read. Thanks Steve Berry!

Not one of his best books.

I knew quite a bit about the historical background of the papacy, but what I found extremely annoying was almost each chapter would begin with a man’s name Eric, Jason, Thomas, Stefano, and it got very confusing to whom they were referring to. I would suggest that the author say Rev, Father or cardinal when he introduced a character.

A fun read.

I love history and the Berry novels are always rife with it - as well as well written and entertaining. This one is no exception. It does bog down a bit with details from time to time. But even these present interesting historical notes for those of us not lucky enough to see the Palio or visit Florence.

In the first 80% of the book, Malone is involved in only three action incidents - unless you count a horse race as an action incident. Extremely long on narrative of the Medicis and their relationship with the Vatican and the last Medici searching to validate his heritage. Does Berry write about anything other than a plot involving a bad Cardinal (this one hires an assassin)? Turns out even a “good” Cardinal hired the same assassin to wreak eye-for-eye retribution in the name of the Catholic Church. Then the Church suppresses a document that proves it owes millions to the Medicis even though one Medici still survives - with a trite explanation that she’s 100- years old and is dying. So, the bad Church welches on its debts.